UK business travel spend nears £39bn, says GBTA

Business
travel spend grew almost 7 per cent in the UK in 2016, reaching almost £39
billion, according to the GBTA BTI Outlook – Annual Global Report & Forecast.

The report, compiled by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Research Foundation, found
global business travel spend approached USD$1.3 trillion (£1 trillion) in 2016,
advancing only 3.5 per cent over 2015 levels. It says global business travel
spend will accelerate "significantly" in 2018, advancing 6.1 per cent,
followed by roughly 7 per cent growth in both 2019 and 2020, reaching levels not
seen since 2011.

The strongest market
was China, which grew 9.2 per cent to a total spend of $318b (£245m), followed
by the United States at $284b (£218b) despite witnessing business travel spend
falling -0.2 per cent.

The Indian market
saw the strongest growth, with spend growing 11.4 per cent to $33b (£25b),
which saw it overtake Italy and Brazil to become the eighth strongest market.
The UK is ranked fifth strongest market, after Germany and Japan, which is
unchanged from 2015.

Michael
McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO, said: "Global business travel
remains a critical driver of the success of organisations around the
globe. Stronger footing in emerging markets and continued economic
stimulus in the developed world has supported global stability leading to a
positive forecast that is unfortunately clouded with more uncertainty than we
have seen in decades."